Vault
by Lady Starhawk
Summary: Of all the ways for a retrieval specialist to die in the field, this was SO not one of the ways he saw himself going out. Note: Not actually a death!fic


Title: Vault

Author: Lady Starhawk

Rating: G

Pairing: None

Thanks to my beta Kamelion for helping coax my muse out of hiding every once in a while (go read her stuff, it's AWESOME!). I own nothing and all mistakes are my own.

Eliot had lost count of the number of times he had banged his head against the wall. Of all the ways for a retrieval specialist to die in the field, this was _so_ not one of the ways he saw himself going out.

"Man, ya gotta stop doing that. You're gonna give yourself brain damage, or something."

"You know what Hardison? Being unconscious right now would be preferable to what's gonna happen in a few hours if the team doesn't find us, and Parker can't open the door." Eliot could already feel the air getting heavy in the vault. He slipped out of his leather jacket and sat on it. It was going to get warm pretty quick.

"Why? What's gonna happen in a few hours?" Alec's voice betrayed his fear.

Eliot suddenly felt a little bit bad for scaring the kid. He wasn't cut out for fieldwork. The predicament they found themselves in was proof of that. "Just sit tight and don't move."

"Naw, naw, naw, I wanna know what goes down in a couple a hours."

Eliot sighed. "There are no vents, and the door is locked from the outside."

Hardison was quiet for almost a minute before he gasped, "Aw man, I don't wanna die in here." Eliot saw Hardison turn on his phone again. Eliot could now see the beginnings of panic in the younger man he had only heard before. He had to keep it together, and keep Hardison calm, or they wouldn't survive until help arrived.

"You're not going to suddenly get reception down here Hardison. We're cut off." Eliot laid his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. "Now close your phone, and relax. The more you freak out, the more air you use."

The light turned off, and Eliot could have sworn he heard Hardison whimper. "They won't even come looking for us for at least 6 more hours. We weren't supposed to have even gone into the vault without Parker."

Eliot did his best to keep his anger in check. "And that is why we are supposed to stick to the script for these things. You went off book and let your mouth get us into trouble, again."

It was hard to stay mad at the young man, but this was really all his fault. They were just supposed to do recon of the building and the vault. Nothing more. Get pictures and some video of the location back to Parker who would do the heavy lifting on this one.

Turns out that the vault was mostly computer controlled. Hardison got cocky and decided to wrap this one up himself, ignoring Eliot's protests, he patched into the system and got the vault codes. He was able to open the vault and they were able to get to the necklace that they were retrieving for the client.

The door opened with just a turn of the handle, and Hardison walked right in and grabbed the necklace. That, however, was when things went horribly awry.

Turns out Hardison hadn't gotten all the security, and managed to trip the alarm. He had disabled the alarm's ability to call out, but not the internal mechanisms. So the lights turned off and the door slammed closed. They were trapped like rats. It was a feeling Eliot has had before in his long career, and had hoped to not encounter again.

Eliot heard Hardison settle down and it was silent in the vault for a while.

***

"Nate, I don't think that's the right way to do that." Sophie said standing behind Nate in a chair in the apartment they were using as home base.

"Hardison does this all the time, it can't be that hard. We just need to know where they were last." Nate tried opening different programs on Alec's laptop, but wasn't having much luck.

"Hello Onstar?" Nate and Sophie both whipped around at the sound of Parker's voice, "Yes, I was a little bit drunk last night and I can't seem to find my car. I was wondering if you knew where it is currently?"

Parker turned around and smiled at them both, before paying attention to the person on the other end of the line, "Yes it's a 2007 Silverado pick-up truck. Registered under my husband Westly Nicollet. Yes, I'll hold."

"Parker?" Sophie asked as she walked towards the thief, "what are you doing?"

"We need to know where Eliot and Hardison are. They were in Eliot's truck. We don't know how to do Hardison's job, but the truck can tell the people at Onstar where it is. We just have to pay the fee."

Sophie turned to Nate, "Now why didn't we think of that?"

Parker turned and grinned, "Because you think to normal." She then turned and started packing a black duffel bag with the supplies she figured she would need.

Nate shook his head and returned to the table where they had a map of the city laying. Sophie came up and stood next to him. "Where were they last?"

Nate sighed, "Eliot said that they were on the South side and that they had the location of the vault. They were going to go do the recon for us. That was," He looked at his watch, "6 hours ago. Eliot estimated they would be back in 3 on the outside."

Sophie nodded, "You think they're in trouble?"

Nate chuckled, "If it was just Hardison I would say no, and give him a few more hours, but Eliot's usually a little more responsible than this. A few hours ago their cell phones started going straight to voicemail instead of ringing. It's cause for concern."

Parker skipped up to the table and smiled, "Got it."

"Let's go get them." Nate said as he led the ladies towards the door.

***

Eliot keyed into the sound of Alec's breathing. He was starting to breathe faster than before. He was fighting the urge to change his own breathing, but managed to focus and keep himself from losing his control. "Hardison, I need you to focus."

"I can't man. I can feel the walls closing in. It's getting hot and sticky in here, and not in any kinda good way."

"You need to close your eyes and concentrate on breathing slowly." He heard Hardison take a few shaky breaths, but slowly got himself under control again.

Eliot sighed in his head, and decided to move over next to the young man. When the time came, he could knock Hardison out, so he didn't have to experience the last few minutes of asphyxiation.

"Why ya comin over here man? I got it under control." Eliot could still hear just a hint of fear in the hacker's voice.

"I know ya do, but it will be easier for the team to get us out if we're together and by the door when Parker cracks the vault."

"Good thinkin' man."

Eliot sat on his jacket again and crossed his legs in front of him, he started meditating. He knew Alec wouldn't be able to control himself much longer, and at least one of them needed to conserve energy.

"Is it getting hotter in here?"

Eliot nodded, but realized that he couldn't be seen in the dark, "Yeah, the air's not circulating, and our breath and bodies are heating up the air and making it humid in here."

"good to know." Alec fell silent again. "Eliot?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I got ya into this mess."

"I know." Eliot chuckled a little bit. "Now be quiet."

Eliot was very aware of his surroundings. He heard Hardison begin to mumble under his breath. He focused long enough to realize that the younger man was praying. He shrugged. It wasn't a bad idea to try and get help from any source possible. He just wasn't sure that praying to God was the way to go.

***

The air was getting thick, and Hardison was breathing like he had just run a marathon. Eliot could no longer keep his own breathing under control.

"I don't think they're gonna make it." Hardison managed to say between heaving breaths.

"No."

"You ain't gonna at least lie to a dying man?"

"Nope."

"Eliot?"

"Yeah?"

"Lie to me?"

"Can't."

"Eliot?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Eliot was officially confused now. "For what?"

"Being here."

He shook his head, "Sure."

There was a pause.

"Eliot?"

"Yeah"

"Got anything to say to me?"

Eliot rolled his eyes in the darkness. "Nope."

"Okay then."

"Yup."

There was silence. Eliot heard Hardison gasp a few times, but didn't say anything. He found the younger man's hand and grasped it. He squeezed, and Hardison squeezed back. Comfort was given in a touch, when there wasn't enough breath for words.

They sat together breathing quickly and heavily in the quiet, until Eliot felt Hardison's hand clench in his, and he held on until it slowly went slack. His breath evened out and slowed with unconsciousness. Eliot eased the hacker down to the floor and then leaned against the wall once again. He bowed his head to his chest and started to pray. There was a sound of his blood rushing in his ears, and his chest was on fire.

As his vision started to gray out, he thought he heard something. But as the pain fell away he found that he didn't really care all that much.

Definitely not the way he pictured going out. He was Eliot Spencer. One of the most feared retrieval specialists on the planet. He wasn't supposed to die in the dark gasping for air.

***

The first thing he was aware of, was an itch in his nose. He tried to reach up to scratch it, but something was hindering his efforts. He shut out the annoyance and took stock of his body. His chest muscles were a little sore, and something was irritating behind his ears. As he slowly came fully awake he realized that the annoyance was caused by a nasal cannula. He was on oxygen. He raked his brain to figure out what he had been doing to land himself in the hospital, but it was all a little fuzzy.

"You're awake." It was a statement. It was also Parker. He pried his eyes open and saw her stern face inches away from his.

"Parker." His throat hurt, and he didn't have enough saliva in his mouth to make more words happen. She smiled and held out a cup with a straw. It was water. Room temperature, but still wet and lovely. "What happened?"

"You tried to die." She hadn't lost that stern look, "You both tried to die." She sat back and crossed her arms over her chest, "That wasn't very nice. You scared Sophie."

"I'm sorry darlin' I'll try to not do that again."

She nodded and sat forward. "We found your truck, but almost missed seeing the vault. Nate spotted this" She held up a turquoise bracelet, "and we were able to figure out where you were. It wasn't easy, but I managed to open it up." She shivered. "You weren't breathing."

Eliot reached out a hand to the thief, something he didn't usually do, but he hated when women cried, and she looked like she was about to cry. "Hardison started breathing again when we got him outside. But you didn't."

"But I'm here now."

She nodded, but continued, "I called 911, and Sophie worked her magic with the cops. I'm still not sure what the story they gave was, but I'm supposed to tell you that if anybody asks you anything, you're supposed to not remember."

He nodded. With the lack of oxygen he could easily feign amnesia.

"How's Hardison?"

"He's fine. Nate's with him now. They're gonna release him this afternoon. You get to stay another day though." Parker suddenly looked uncomfortable. "Nate found the necklace in your pocket. He's going to see the client tomorrow night to give it to them."

Eliot nodded and pretended to yawn.

"I'll let you get some more sleep. The doctor said that sleep was important after your body went through such an ordeal."

Eliot nodded and closed his eyes. He listened to the thief leave the room. Once he was alone he opened his eyes and looked out the window. He started to wonder about what was really going to kill him. He had always figured he would go out in a blaze of glory. But now …it was probably going to involve Hardison. He banged his head into the pillow and allowed himself to slowly drift to sleep. That kid really was going to be the death of him.


End file.
